Posted by TBR on November 13, 1998 at 12:31:20:
In Reply to: Here we go again... posted by Brandon on November 12, 1998 at 21:21:37:
: I too am having cold weather problems with my car. I go out in the morning and pump the gas a couple times and it starts right up. I leave it idling for 10-15 minutes before I leave. The car runs fine for 20 min. down the freeway but when I come to a stop sign after getting off the freeway, it dies. I have to pump it a couple times to get it started again which tells me that its running lean. I figured that it should be to operating temp by the time it has been run that long. I adjusted my choke and put it on the richest setting and that didn't help. I thought it could be electrical so I replaced plugs, cap, rotor, wires, points, condensor, and coil and that didn't help either. When I start it up in the afternoon after school, it runs fine. Starting to wonder if I should rebuild the carb this weekend. Engine is a 302 by the way. Any suggestions?
: Thanks,
: Brandon
>>> Your choke may still be the culprit. It could be sticking closed in the cold. It will star up great when cold, the flood when it has warmed up. So long as you are driving with the throttle open, you won't have a problem. But when you stop at a light, the throttle shuts & the engine will flood. Pumping the pedal will activate the choke pull-down linkage and open up the choke. In that case you are actually leaning out the rich mixture and temporarily unsticking the choke.
Have you checked the fuel float? I had a nagging problem with my Carter 1bbl that drove me nuts. It turns out the float was rubbing the side of the fuel bowl and occasionally sticking. The car would run fine at freeway speeds for about 15 minutes (just enough time to get to work) then bowl would run dry & it would shut down. After a few tries at starting, I would get just enough fuel in the carb to get the engine idling. This took forever to diagnose. Your carb will be different, but it's worth investigating.